Elegy for a Disease: A Personal and Cultural History of Polio

"What happened to your leg?" he asks me as he's loading the groceries into the trunk of my Volvo.

"I had polio."

"What's that?"

I feel like an aging movie star who's been asked her name by a restaurant maître d'. Polio was as famous as AIDS. Those of us who had it were figures. We limped around under its metaphoric weight.

—-from Elegy for a Disease

Advance Praise for Elegy for a Disease

"Anne Finger creates a lyric prose that shimmers like a serious dream. Both public and private stories concern her narrator's quest for the truth about disabled lives. This is a memoir of history and imagination, and it belongs on every book shelf."

—-Stephen Kuusisto, professor of disability studies, The Ohio State University, and author of Planet of the Blind

Praise for Bone Truth

"Lyrical, searing prose that evokes the strength, influence, and fragility of memory. Funny, stirring, tender, true."

—-Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Past Due: A Story of Disability, Pregnancy and Birth

"A thoughtful reflection on the meaning of health in a society that is coming to value wellness above all else; and a terrifically told story by a crackerjack writer...A positive, life-affirming work."

—-The Vancouver Sun

"An electrifying odyssey...A stunning exploration of the metaphor of health in society...A powerful story."

—-San Francisco Chronicle